Congratulations to Mr. Duane Embree, (IU MPA ’91) Technical Director, NSWC Crane Division, as he celebrates 35 years of service supporting our national defense. Duane will retire next week and I had the pleasure of attending his celebration lunch yesterday where he was presented with a Department of Defense distinguished civilian service medal. Under Duane’s leadership IU’s collaborations with Crane have incrementally increased to include an Educational Partnership Agreement, Partnership Intermediary Agreement, internships, research partnerships and hundreds of Crane employees who have earned IU degrees. Thanks Duane for your distinguished service!
IU Kelley School's Leading Index for Indiana 'ambivalent' in September but edged up slightly
The Leading Index for Indiana (LII), defying the generally poor economic news, edged up slightly in September, moving from 99.5 in August to 99.7 this month.
The LII, developed by the Indiana Business Research Center, is designed to reflect the unique structure of the Indiana economy. It is a predictive tool that signals changes in the direction of the economy several months before the economy has changed. In contrast to economic forecasts, which use sophisticated statistical models to foretell particular levels for a wide variety of economic activities and outcomes in the future, a leading index is a simple construct that indicates a general direction of future economic activity expected in the next five to six months.
The LII in September tells much the same story as in previous months: inconsistent economic signals, an economy that has lost any mojo from earlier in the year, but an economy that does not yet appear to be on the precipice of a double-dip recession.
The Center for Econometric Model Research forecasts that, without the fiscal cliff, economic growth for 2013 would be about 2.3 percent, but if the economy is driven off the fiscal cliff, the economy is expected to shrink by about 0.5percent in the first two quarters of 2013.
Drivers of change
The expectations of home builders gave the LII another boost this month with the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Market Index increasing 3 points,from 37 in August to 40 in September. Unlike last month, however, the gainswere shared across all four regions, with the Midwest increasing from 41 inAugust to 45 in September. The 3-point rise in the HMI was sufficient to give the LII lift.
The Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Managers Index moved into the “economic contraction” zone in July and fell further in September to 49.6, putting downward pressure on the LII. A PMI reading of below 50 signals contracting economic activity in the manufacturing sector.
The transportation and logistics component of the index — the Dow Jones Transportation Average — deflated slightly more in August, retreating another 1.6 percent and putting downward pressure on the LII. The August “waste economic index” measure for rail traffic that tracks well with current economic output — not future economic output like the LII — was 15 percent lower compared to last year, an indication that third-quarter GDP will likely show an economy that has lost steam.
IU's new study revealing that Indiana military installations boost state and local economy
In addition to providing top notch academic instruction to soldiers and airmen, Indiana University supports the Indiana National Guard through research and service. The goal is to assure Camp Atterbury and the Muscatatuck Center continue to be vital to our national security while supporting the Indiana economy. Go Hoosiers and Guardsmen!
Read the full article about IU’s new study revealing that Indiana military installations boost state and local economy.
IU Kokomo named finalist for 2012 UEDA Excellence in Leadership and Collaboration award
Each project is broken down into a problem, solution, results, and future considerations for the attendees to vote upon. The problem presented by IU Kokomo’s Regional Transformation Initiative case study is centered around a shift from an economy of traditional industrial manufacturing, based on natural resources and labor, to an economy of knowledge, driven by innovation and entrepreneurship; further complicated by intense global competitiveness and uncertainty.
Recession and competition are changing Indiana’s social assistance nonprofits, IU report shows
Indiana nonprofit social assistance agencies are feeling the effects of the Great Recession and the increased competition from for-profit firms, a new report from Indiana University shows.
Employment in Indiana’s social assistance industry grew almost every year from 1995 to 2009, even during recessions in the early 2000s and the Great Recession that began in 2007. This growth, however, can be attributed more to growth in the for-profit sector than to increases in nonprofit employment.
“Indiana Nonprofit Employment: Historical Trends in Social Assistance, 1995-2009” is a joint project of Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Indiana Business Research Center at IU’s Kelley School of Business, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies.
The data show that nonprofit employment in social assistance grew by about 44 percent over the 1995-2009 period, and for most of the period, nonprofits accounted for about 70 percent of total industry employment. However, beginning in 2004, nonprofit employment growth stopped and the nonprofit share of total industry employment decreased to 62 percent by 2009.
By contrast, for-profit employment grew every year, especially after 2006, and more than doubled over the 1995-2009 period. By 2009, for-profit establishments accounted for 38 percent of private-sector employees and 33 percent of private-sector payroll in social assistance. Government agencies accounted for less than 1 percent of direct social assistance employment.
Overall, this research confirms the important role of the nonprofit sector in providing social services for the well-being of residents of Indiana. Social assistance employment accounted for about 11 percent of all nonprofit employment statewide from 1995 to 2009 and was the second-fastest-growing major nonprofit industry, after health care services. However, the increasing competition from the for-profit sector may require nonprofits to adapt to meet new challenges.
A short summary and the complete report are both available online.
IU cybersecurity fellow named one of world’s top young innovators by MIT publication
Congratulations to Indiana University’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research fellow Christopher Soghoian for being recognized by MIT’s Technology Review as a 2012 TR35 Honoree!
The designation recognizes the world’s top young innovators under the age of 35, spanning biotechnology, computer and electronics hardware and software, energy, the Internet and nanotechnology, among other fields.
Soghoian, a privacy researcher and activist, earned his Ph.D. from IU this summer. His multi-disciplinary research is focused on the role that third-party Internet and telecommunications service providers play in assisting law enforcement surveillance of their customers. His research has been published in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and cited by several federal courts.
Previous TR35 honorees have included notable innovators like Google co-founder Larry Page and Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning.
Soghoian is well-known among academia, his colleagues and the media for his dedication to consumer privacy, especially as it relates to surveillance. In a profile published last fall, Soghoian was described by Wired magazine as the “Ralph Nader of the Internet.” From 2009 to 2010, he served as the first in-house technologist at the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection. There he assisted with investigations of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Netflix.
Before joining the FTC, Soghoian co-created, along with IU alumnus Sid Stamm, the Do Not Track anti-tracking mechanism now adopted by all of the major Web browsers.
Cash awards offered for innovators at IU's School of Informatics and Computing
Indiana University will collaborate with Schurz Communications, an Indiana-based multimedia company, on an innovation challenge beginning this semester. Hoosier undergraduates, graduate students and faculty will be asked to consider real-world digital solutions and opportunities for 21st-century media companies. There will be sizable cash prizes for winning prototypes that meet agreed guidelines.
Beyond money and resume enhancement, participating students will be competing for local, statewide and national media recognition, as Schurz Communications operates cable, high-speed data, TV, radio, print and digital (mobile, social and desktop) media businesses in Indiana and across the U.S. Winning innovators will have opportunities to advance their ideas, as Schurz and its investment partners are actively seeking early-stage technologies.
To enliven projects, the IU School of Informatics and Computing will receive custom feeds, application programming interfaces and real-world datasets from Schurz Communications’ wide array of media businesses and vendors.
“This partnership provides an amazing opportunity for our students to both learn and innovate around the world of information and media concepts provided by Schurz,” said Dennis Groth, the school’s associate dean for undergraduate studies. “Key to the partnership is the interaction between our students and Schurz professionals, which creates a winning combination of access to information, experience in media and information delivery, and innovative ideas from skilled and energized students.”
Indiana CTSI Translational Science Master's Program Prepares New Generation of Research Scientists
Although scientific discoveries in the field of medicine are advancing at an increasingly rapid pace, the amount of time it takes for these discoveries to travel from the research laboratory to your local doctor’s office or hospital has not undergone a similar transformation. Many experts estimate it can take as long as 17 years for a promising new drug or therapy to overcome the myriad of clinical, financial and regulatory hurdles needed to bring discoveries to the wider community.
Steps have been taken over the past several years to address this disparity between scientific advancement and clinical implementation, including the establishment of 60 National Institutes of Health-funded centers across the United States focused on accelerating the translation of discoveries into practice. The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, a partnership between Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame, was established in 2008 through a $25 million NIH Clinical and Translational Sciences Award along with $60 million in support from public-private partnerships across the state.
Educating future generations of researchers in how to turn their medical discoveries into therapies that reach patients is one of Indiana CTSI’s most important activities. To directly support this key role, the Translational Science Program of Indiana (TSPI) was launched in August 2011in collaboration with the IU School of Medicine.
To date TSPI has enrolled five students who, over the course of the two-year program, will get a crash course in all aspects of translational science. More recently, TSPI collaborated with the IU School of Medicine to create a fellowship program for medical students who take a year off from their primary studies to pursue an accelerated version of the master’s program. Eligible participants currently include students from the IU School of Medicine, with future plans to extend the program to different health science disciplines.
Indiana University receives Campus Technology Innovators Award for IUanyWARE
Indiana University has received a 2012 Campus Technology Innovators Award for the development of IUanyWARE, a cloud-based service that provides students, faculty and staff with on-demand access to hundreds of software applications. The Innovators Award recognizes universities that deploy extraordinary technology solutions to meet campus challenges.
With IUanyWARE, IU enables its 100,000 students — and all faculty and staff — to access critical software on any personal device, including PCs, Macs, tablets and smartphones. IUanyWARE runs on Citrix’s virtual technology from IU’s primary Data Center in Bloomington, using Indiana’s I-Light network to reach all campuses. This means students will no longer need to install every kind of software required for coursework.
This Campus Technology Innovators Award is the latest of four national IT awards for Indiana University in 2012.
Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge conference – July 13
The Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge will be from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Friday, July 13, at the IU School of Informatics at IUPUI.
This event will bring together leaders from Indiana’s healthcare, technology and entrepreneurial communities to foster cross-sector collaborations aimed at improving patient care, reducing healthcare costs and continuing to establish Indiana as a premiere location for health IT innovation. Agenda items include presentations; breakout sessions, including a working session with hospital information technology experts; and a networking reception.
The Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge is a TechPoint initiative presented by TechPoint’s Advancing Life Sciences and Health Care Information Technology Group, Develop Indy and Ice Miller LLP. It is sponsored by CoreTech Revolution, Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Indiana Health Information Exchange, Indiana University Health, Indiana Health Information Management Systems Society,Purdue Research Park, and Startup Weekend Indianapolis and St. Vincent Health.
This event is open to physicians, nurses, hospital administrators, information technology professionals and entrepreneurs. Registration is $40 (or $80 for a “team of three”) and includes seminar materials, a luncheon and the reception.
For more information, visit the Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge website.
http://youtu.be/D_7Sod72t88